


Michael Reed and NyQuil

by Waywocket



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Medicine, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 02:43:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18769570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waywocket/pseuds/Waywocket
Summary: Michael isn't feeling well and Spine tries to help. Leaving Six to figure out if Spine gave him medication or antifreeze.





	Michael Reed and NyQuil

“Mister Reed?” Asked Spine as the one-man band stared intently at the page in front of him.

Snapping out of it Michael looked up to Spine and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, Spine. I haven’t been feeling well, guess it’s starting to catch up with me.” Blinking hard he put the paper down and rubbed his temples.

Spine sat his guitar down and crossed his wrists over his lap. “Humans should rest when they’re sick, Mister Reed. Why don’t we take a break?”

Before Michael could try and defend himself and say he was alright to go on, he bent over in a coughing fit. Looking up as he tried to catch his breath, he narrowed his eyes at Spine when he gave him a particularly smug look.

Sighing, he sat up straight again. “Yeah, I know. But we were really getting somewhere,” he whined. “Spine, would you do me a favour? I left my bag down in the labs. I have a bottle in there that should help a little.”

With a nod, Spine stood from the stool. “Of course, Mister Reed. Just a moment.” With that, he made his way down to the labs humming ‘Me and My Baby’ to himself.

The labs were busy this time of day and he had to move carefully around the Walter Workers as not to bump into them, or knock something over with his spines. It didn’t look like anything particularly volatile. Nothing had exploded at any rate.

Finding Michael’s bag was a bit of a chore as he weaved through the workers hunting for a worn gym bag. Tucked away and half-forgotten, Spine found it under a table.

Luckily for Spine, the bottle was sitting on top, he was never comfortable going through people’s things. Turning it this way and that, he thought briefly, how amusing it was green before going back to Michael to hand him the bottle.

Seeing Spine return, he perked up when he saw the bottle. “Oh good!” Reaching for the bottle he quickly twisted off the cap, or least he tried to. Sighing, he looked up to Spine apologetically and offered him the bottle again. “One more favour?”

“You really must be sick, Mister Reed,” he laughed as he took the bottle. Pressing the safety locks he quickly opened the bottle and handed it back to Michael, who took it gratefully took it and poured out a dose.

“You’re a lifesaver, Spine.” Tilting his head back, he tried to drink it without letting it touch his tongue. He never was good at that and pulled a face at the horrid taste.

“Man! That stuff never goes down easy!” He laughed as he put the bottle under the chair and picked up his guitar again. “Shall we try again?”

Taking up his own, Spine nodded and took a seat. “Of course, Mister Reed. Now, where were we?”

The break had done Michael some good and he had was doing well. At least until he suddenly dropped his guitar, the sound startling them both.

“Whoa!” Michael’s head snapped up and he looked around, almost as if he had forgotten where he was before he clocked where his instrument had gone. Reaching down to grab it, he toppled his chair.

Spine was quick on his feet and grabbed his friend, thankful he wore his guitar strap. “Mister Reed, are you alright?” Keeping a hand out to keep his friend balanced, he picked up the fallen chair with the other.

“Uh?” Blinking his eyes, Michael sighed. “Sourry,” he drawled as Spine helped him sit back down. “Mus be worn ou still.”

Spine had to stop to process what he was saying, he was slurring his words. Which was strange, he had never heard him do that before. Only when someone had had too much to drink. “Are you feeling alright? It’s hard to understand you.”

Looking up at the automaton he blinked once, then twice before it seemed he understood. Pressing his face against his hand, he heaved a sigh. “I don’ think it helped ‘nough,” he said as he staggered to his feet.

Reaching out to help steady him, Spine helps him to a nearby lounge. “Just lay down for a bit. If that doesn’t help, I’ll talk to Peter about getting a cab to take you home.” When Michael didn’t respond he laughed quietly and stepped out to try and get some work done while he let him nap.

Sometime later, Spine came back to check on the human. “Mister Reed? I hope you’re feeling a little better. I was thinking about the cords and-” he paused when he saw Michael was right where he had left him. “Mister Reed?”

Stepping over he gently shook his shoulder. When that didn’t work, he poked and prodded at his side.

“Mister Reed, are you alright?” He tried again. When Michael stayed still, he panicked. This wasn’t happening. Had he killed the human?

Scooping up the unconscious human, Spine rushed back down to the labs. Most of the Walter Workers had left to enjoy a night off, but he knew there was someone down here.

“Petes! Six!” He yelled, skidding into an open door near the end of the hall. In the lab he found Peter.

Said man was standing up from his desk, ready to make a run when he heard the screaming, but Spine was much faster. Seeing him cradling Michael made him worry, not that his mask could show it.

“What’s going on, Spine?” He demanded and cleared a place to lay Michael down. The possibilities ran through his head. He had been in the labs today when he normally wasn’t, that alone gave him cause for concern.

“I-I think I killed Mister Reed,” Spine tried to clarify. Sitting the one-man band down on the table he fretted before being swatted away by Six.

Doing a quick check for vitals, he was relieved at least that he was still breathing. Once the initial panic faded he looked to the still panicking robot. “And why, exactly do you think you killed him, Spine?”

“He wasn’t feeling well, so I gave him some green liquid from down in the maintenance lab.”

Okay, now Peter was panicking again. Did Spine give him antifreeze? No, Spine would know better, wouldn’t he? But what else would be down there? If it was a stash of green matter, there would have been no doubt, and there was no way Spine would make that mistake. “When did you give it to him?”

“A few hours ago. He wasn’t feeling well, but after he took it he started to slur when he talked. He even dropped his guitar and topple the chair trying to get it. He looked like he was in pain and couldn’t focus on anything.”

Pulling at his hair, he groaned. “Okay, Spine-o. What exactly did you give Michael?”

“I’m not sure, Six. With everyone busy down here I just grabbed it from his bag and hurried out. I didn’t want to cause any trouble.”

Sighing, Peter pressed his covered face into his hands. “Spine, go get that bottle, please. I need to figure out what you gave him before something happens.”

That was all the prompting he needed to rush out, leaving Peter behind to figure this out. Pulling out his phone he searched for the symptoms and drinking antifreeze and was very uncomfortable about how many of them Spine had mentioned.

As he heard the heavy footfalls of Spine as he came running he did the most logical thing he could think of and dialed poison control. Hopefully, they hadn’t blocked his number yet.

Skidding into the room, Spine had to grab the door frame to stop himself from charging into Peter. “I found it!” Handing it to him, he watched as he looked it over.

Six immediately recognized the bottle when offered to him. Sitting it down on the table, he let out a suffering sigh. He couldn’t decide if he was more annoyed or relieved to see that it was just heavy duty flu medicine. “Yes hello? Please forgive me. False alarm, there was just a misunderstanding. Yes, I know I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful.” When the line went dead he looked at his phone, his mask somehow expressing annoyance at being hung up like that. “Rude.”

“Anyway, Spine? Did you read the bottle on the way down?” He asked as said robot still looked nervous and shook his head.

“Sorry, I was in a hurry to get back down here. Before something bad happened. What is it?” He asked, leaning over to try and see the label.

“It’s just flu medicine, Spine. He’s just sleeping. The nighttime stuff,” he picked up the bottle and shook it slightly, “normally puts you in a deep sleep because it helps get better faster, and it can be hard to sleep when you’re sick.”

Spine blinked his optics in confusion. He knew about medicine, been around for some of the weirder things as well, but he’d never seen them totally unresponsive if they weren’t in serious condition.

“Than,” he hesitated, “Mister Reed’s going to be alright?” He asked and relaxed a little when Six nodded.

Said Mister Reed groaned and slowly sat up from the table. Pressing a hand to his forehead he looked around confused. Once he clocked Peter and Spine he smiled meekly. “I’m sorry, did I sleepwalk again?”

While Spine cheered, Six laughed. “See? Told you he’d be alright.” Turning to face Michael he shook his head. “How are you feeling?”

“A little stiff, but a bit better at least. I’m kinda sensitive to medicine, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be that bad. Guess if I made it this fair I better not take it again, huh? I hope I didn’t cause any trouble.”

“I’m so sorry, Mister Reed.” Taking off his famed fedora, he worried over the brim. “I came to check on you and ask a question about the song we were writing earlier. When you didn’t respond at all, I was afraid I had given you something I shouldn’t have. I panicked and brought you to Six, hoping he could fix my mistake.”

Listening to Spine, he chuckled softly and shook his head. He was lucky to work for such caring people. “It’s alright big guy. Thanks for looking out for me. Now come on, we’ve still got work to do.”


End file.
